This invention concerns apparatus for filling cylindrical containers with materials having fixed shapes, such as granular or tablet-shaped fill material, whereby the containers stand in retainers while fill material, that is conveyed by a conveyor, falls thereinto in doses.
It is known to fill containers in an uncomplicated manner by pouring the fill materials into the containers. Depending on need, filling aids, such as funnels, make this filling process easier. The fill material spreads out randomly in the containers during the filling so that bridge formations can arise such that one container could receive various quantities of fill material.
By use of a conveyor, with appropriate equipment, one can convey the fill material to the container in doses, or dosed amounts. Oscillating, or reciprocating, conveyors with linear or circular conveying stretches are particularly well suited for this. The thusly apportioned and conveyed fill material can spread out better in the container, but a uniform, dense filling is not guaranteed.
In this regard, the amount of fill material can be critical, as in the case of a activating charge for an inflatable sack. Inflatable sacks are installed in motor vehicles for protecting passengers thereof. When there is an accident with a motor vehicle a reaction is initiated in the activation charge so as to effect a sudden filling of the sack, which is folded together, by a gas. The activating charge comprises a container filled with tablets. A fill amount of the container determines the amount of gas, with a fill density and a tablet-shape influencing the course of the reaction as a function of time. The container is sized such that when it is densely filled it contains a particular amount of tablets. The filled condition of the container must be maintained during use of the motor vehicle. Upon a subsequent loosening of the tablets caused by shaking of the motor vehicle, the tablets rub against one another and pulverize. The course of the reaction as a function of time is thereby unfavorably influenced.
A uniform and/or densely filled condition, as is necessary for such applications, cannot be obtained, without further measures, by known apparatus. This can particularly not be guaranteed when inconvenient shapes or objects in the interior of the container, such as bothersome surfaces, hinder the filling process.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide an apparatus of the type described in the introductory paragraph above that densely fills containers in an uncomplicated manner with granulate, tablets, and the like, even if bothersome surfaces in the container hinder distribution of the fill material.